Mexico soaked in wettest year on record

Rains poured down on Mexico throughout late September and October, making it the wettest year on record. In the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, the waters unleashed mudslides that enveloped villages and killed dozens. Over in the east, the cities of Villahermosa and Veracruz were turned into waterworld towns. The flooding in Veracruz also brought hundreds of crocodiles out of a farm onto streets, terrifying local residents. The rains were fed by a series of tropical storms and hurricanes, with chirpy names such as Karl and Matthew. The latest of the gang, Hurricane Paula, was bearing down on Mexico as this brief went to print.

Monterrey was also the scene of a dirty drama involving the national soccer team has that has dominated Mexican media in the month. It all began when directors discovered the team had an all-night party with several prostitutes among the guests in the city. The national director announced bans and fines on the stars. As several play in Britain, the story even hit Britain’s famous tabloids, which erroneously reported that Mexico was in South America. Players then went into full rebellion and all refused to play for their team, with support from much of the public who said the federation had been too hard. Finally, on Oct. 12, the director resigned.

After a decade in the making, Mexico opened up a new museum that commemorates holocausts from Auschwitz to Central America. The 75,000 square feet Memory and Tolerance Museum in Mexico City is the brainchild of Sharon Zaga, who had several family members who survived European death camps and immigrated to Mexico. Five stories have exhibits from the Nazi Holocaust and other horrors, including the slaughters of Armenians, Tutsis and closer to home, the massacre of Mayan Indians in Guatemala. The museum aims to serve as a lesson of the tragedies caused by intolerance.